2/8 Sketches. This is my second sketch. I was impressed with the character development for a younger reader. The book did not seem preachy or speak done to the reader. Also there was one girl on the team. She had a pink glove. I wanted to make one of the gloves pink amid a bunch of scruffy boys.

oils on board

Well I did a young adult book cover my first. It's as close as I've done to a children's book in my life lately. I did do David & Goliath years ago. The art director, Rich Deas, ran me some. He's a good guy, but I was starting to..... well here's the sketches, and final. The story is about a gang of contemporary youths centered around their urban/suburban struggles, and the baseball team they form. The publisher and art director wanted art that would get the boys reading. The title is,"Top of the Order", and it's to be one of a series. The author is John Coy. He has written quite a few youth books.

2/8 sketch. I was interested in the lives of the characters. I felt the environment was a way to allude to the larger picture of their lives. Way too crazy with the fingers.

3/8 Sketch. The Art director saw a piece I had done before and wanted more energy.

4/8 sketch, Pull back show the kids.

5/8 sketch Pull back, and keep that space for the title, and author.

6/8 sketch. Rich wanted more smack in the hit.

7/8 sketch Rich is liking it but.....

8/8 sketch. Rich is happy. A tighter crop, and I finally received an approval to go to finish. Ha!

Recent illustration for the National Labor Federation. Subject is the disaster in disaster relief. Katrina, and other major events have exposed the failure of the Government's ability to address these crises. The stock market rallied yesterday, but that crisis was manmade. The other events/crises quite often end up going begging, and relying on charity. In some ways I felt the image kinda describes the landscape on a couple of levels.

I've mentioned the subject of adolescent tendencies. Here's something I did for a as yet "undisclosed Lucasfilm project." I checked with the organizer of the project, he said it would be okay to post. It was fun to play with the subject that had such impact in my mind when the first film came out. The title of the piece is "1/24th Scale".